Dragon Bait
by Lapis of Lazuli
Summary: AU. Arthur had lived in the village of Hetalia all his life, and the last thing he'd expected was to be falsely accused of witchcraft and then staked out on a hillside for a hungry dragon... From a kink meme request. T for now, but will probably go up.
1. Chapter 1

Posting one of my kink meme fills here. It's totally PG now, (maybe PG-13, for Arthur's potty mouth and mentions of nekkidness...) but it will most likely become a nice hard R later on.... it IS a kink meme fill after all....

The original request is here: _http :// hetalia-kink. livejournal. com /13125. html? thread=32287045#t32287045_ (Just remove the spaces....)

I suppose this counts as de-anoning. Which is funny to think about, as the story isn't even done yet.

The rest will come shortly. (Probably...) I still have almost a week off from school, an I'm trying to finish it before I go back, as it will be much harder to work on it when I do... anyway, enjoy!

Also, I'd like to point out that the plot of this fic was heavily influenced by the book 'Dragon's Bait' by Vivian Vande Velde. This first part draws a lot of influence form it (as well as the fic's name), but the next part will probably be less inclined toward that plot, and more toward the smut... Or will it? What would you guys prefer? A bit of Action and adventure? Or straight to the smut? I'd honestly like to know. Comment your answers! Please?

* * *

**~Dragon's Bait~**

Part 1

The day Arthur was accused of being a witch started out like any other.

He blearily awoke form a dreamless sleep, and rolled off of his bed to begin his day's chores. Fetch some water, put a loaf of bread in the oven, gather herbs from the mountain. Everything was going along swimmingly. Not a hair was out of place in his daily routine. Until a stranger came knocking at his door.

The village of Hetalia where Arthur lived was just small enough so that everyone knew everyone else, so it as not often that there were strangers in town. After all, Hetalia was not in the remotest way interesting, so it never attracted any tourists. When a stranger did come into town, it was big news.

Arthur was in the middle of preparing his breakfast when he heard the knock. _Odd._ he thought, _Who would come all of the way out there to see me?_ Arthur lived alone on the outskirts of the village, near the forest. He had always been a solitary sort of person, as had his parents before him. He continued to inhabit their home, even after his parents had died, and had set himself up as an apothecary, making herbal remedies for the people of the town. (It wasn't a flourishing profession, but at least he didn't starve...)

Arthur opened his door to reveal the tallest man that he was sure he'd ever seen. The stranger stared down at him over his long scarf (surely he couldn't be cold, it was nearly getting to be summer...) The smile that adorned his lips did not match his cold eyes. Arthur was usually not one to judge on appearance alone, but there was just something not right about this man.

"Are you Arthur, the town's herbal practitioner?" he asked, though Arthur could already tell that he probably already knew the answer to his question. Behind the larger man stood three shorter men. One had shoulder length brown hair, the second had short bland hair and was holding a large dusty tome, the third was a small boy, probably no older than 14, shaking in his boots so badly that Arthur thought that he might faint dead away. He sent an inquisitive glare toward the four of them, before replying. "I'm Arthur, yes."

"I am Inquisitor Ivan of Kiev." The stranger said. Arthur had heard of Keiv. It was a grand city a few days journey from here, and a major religious center of the neighboring kingdom. The stranger spoke before Arthur could comment. "You have been charged with witchcraft, and it is my duty to prove that." The already insincere smile broadened. "Or disprove it, if the evidence so warrants."

"Witch- witchcraft?" Arthur didn't know what to say. "I... I mean... what?" his mind was blank. Witchcraft? _HIM?_

"You are to come with me now." the Inquisitor told him.

Arthur knew he was not a witch, er... warlock, and would therefore be proven innocent. Still, fear began to overtake him when the giant of a man took hold of his arm, none too gently. "But... but I..."

The man's smile widened as his fingers dug into Arthur's arm. "You will come with me."

He knew right then and there, that this man would never find him innocent. The sadistic gleam in his eyes told him as much. "No!" he cried, trying to free himself. This was utterly ridiculous! He was no witch!

The Inquisitor practically dragged him from his house. "Toris! Take hold of him!" he commanded the man with the brown hair. The man responded by cringing slightly, and then taking hold of Arthur's other arm. "I'm sorry..." he heard the man whisper quietly into his ear. The two began to drag him toward town. Eventually, Arthur stopped struggling and allowed himself to be lead to the town's square.

By the time they reached the town's center, a rather large crowd had gathered. "This will do for a court. Tie him up." Inquisitor Ivan called to his subordinates. The man with brown hair and the small shaking boy bound his wrists behind his back, both sending him small apologetic looks. "Gather those who will testify." Ivan called to the remaining man, the one holding the large book.

If there were any citizens not already gathered in the square, they were certainly here now. Arthur heard many indistinct whispers and questions. "What's going on mama?" he heard a child ask, only to be hushed quickly by it's mother. The words 'witchcraft' and 'warlock' floated among the crowd. Arthur had known these people all of his 16 years. Did they seriously thing that he was capable of dark magic? He was a simple young man, his only real worth in his knowledge of herbs.

"I will testify." came a voice from the crowd. Arthur knew that voice, although he wished that he didn't. Sure enough, Francis, his long time neighbor and constant source of discomfort stepped forward. "I saw him. He was supposedly gathering herbs in the forest, but in truth, he was really committing animal sacrifices to his satanic overlord! He drank a chicken's blood before my very eyes!" he finished with a dramatic flourish.

Francis, damn him! It all made sense now! Francis had set him up so that he could claim Arthur's land! He had gotten royally pissed when Arthur wouldn't sell to him. The bastard just wanted the timber on his land for his carpentry business. But there was no way that Arthur would let him have that land! It was his family's land, and had been for generations. But, if Arthur was found guilty of witchcraft, he would loose all rights to his land, and Francis could swoop in and take it from him.

"I saw him too!" cried Francis' friend Antonio. "He's never liked me, you know..." Antonio said, attempting to elicit pity from the townsfolk. 'It's no wonder I never liked you, you bastard!' Arthur thought. 'Always picking on me!' Antonio continued, oblivious to Arthur's thoughts "He was walking through town late at night. He stopped in front of Vash's house. He checked to see if anyone was watching, but did not see me because I was tending my tomatoes. (_The hell were you doing tending your tomatoes -at night-?_ Arthur thought to himself.) I saw him make a sign with his hand, and mutter something, then he spit on the ground. That very next day, Vash's prize goat stopped producing milk!" This elicited a gasp from the crowd.

"I did no such thing!" Arthur cried, struggling against his bindings.

"Gag him!" the Inquisitor commanded.

"No! NO!" Arthur cried, but it was useless. The brown haired man had already placed a strip of cloth over his mouth.

"Where is this Vash that he speaks of?" Ivan inquired.

"I'm here." came Vash's reply.

"Has your goat gone dry?" he asked.

"Yes, it has. But-"

"And it was a good milker before?"

"Yes, but-"

"I have heard enough evidence." Ivan said, cutting off Vash's testimony.

Some kind of trial this was! It seemed that none of the townsfolk were willing to speak up on his behalf. Arthur's own solitary nature seemed to be backfiring on him. The citizens of Hetalia were whispering amongst themselves. Did they seriously believe that Arthur could be capable of such things?!?!

"Do we burn him at the steak now?" another of Francis' friends, Gilbert, asked eagerly. Francis elbowed him in the ribs. _Burn him... was this really happening?_

Inquisitor Ivan was shaking his head. "We can solve two problems at once. A dragon has been terrorizing the villages north of here. It is a small dragon, as dragons go, feeding mostly on sheep and the occasional cow. Perhaps a... small token of respect will prevent it from attacking the villagers themselves." he glanced at Arthur, that disturbing smile growing ever wider.

Dragon? Arthur's mind raced. His knees gave out from underneath him, but he quickly hoisted up again by the cold hands of the Inquisitor. "Bring a cart to transport him!" he bellowed.

_'I will not beg for my life.'_ Arthur resolved. _'And I will not let them see me cry.'_

And once again the Inquisitor smiled down at him.

It was dusk by the time the parade of villagers finally stopped in the wide valley where Arthur was to meet his judgment.

It was also raining.

Despite his bleak mood and the lousy weather, Arthur could see clear signs of a dragon. Arthur had never seen a dragon, nor met anyone who had seen a dragon, nor heard of a dragon in these parts in his lifetime, but the evidence of a dragon's presence was obvious. The farms closest to the base of the mountain were either charred to a crisp or smashed to bits. There were scorch marks everywhere, and there were deep gashes in the rock of the mountain side, gashes that could have only been made by dragon's claws. The horses pulling the cart kept rearing back, and one could tell by the looks in their eyes that there was something to be feared out there.

Arthur turned his thoughts away from dragons and tried to look composed. He was resolute to not give them the satisfaction of his tears. He would remain cold, as they were cold toward his plight, as the rain was cold as it drenched him to the core. He thought of how he should be home now, sitting by his fire and mending his clothes, his needle moving rapidly through the fabric... this wasn't helping. He was only making himself more depressed.

Some of the men dug a hole, and then propped a large pole upright in it, trampling down the mud to keep it vertical. The inquisitor pulled him roughly from the cart, too roughly, as Arthur was not resisting. They did not bother to untie his hands. Just fastened him to a pole with another length of rope.

The inquisitor looked down over his scarf at Arthur, his eyes full of gleeful malice. He bent down, so his face was level with Arthur's. "Do not let sin rule you any longer." he began "Resist the temptation of devils and their flesh. Evil can have no hold over you if you do not allow it." he straightened, and turned to address the crowd. "May your body be freed from it's sins, and be reborn!" Then, he said quietly over his shoulder, his smile inhumanly wide, "May God forgive you."

They placed several torches in the ground surrounding him, so that the dragon would have no problem finding him. When Ivan retreated, the villagers followed, lest they too become food for the hungry dragon. He watched them depart, and soon they were nothing but distant memories amidst the pounding rain.

_I wish I cold have left them with a nice curse._ Arthur thought. _Something that would have kept them up at night._ But Arthur didn't know any curses, and anyway, it was too late now.

He shifted until he found a position where none of the rough spots of the log dug into his back.

At least he was alone, and for a time, that was a comfort. But then when he tried to remember the small cottage in which he lived, in which he grew up, he found that he could not form a clear picture of it in his head. He tried to remember his parent's faces, but they too eluded him. It seemed the harder that he concentrated on remembering something, the farther it slipped away, until he could no longer remember his mother's smile, or the forests in which he played as a child.

Then, with no one to witness, he finally cried.

Eventually, the rain stopped. Arthur caught a glimpse of the almost full moon from between the scattered cloud cover.

How, exactly would the dragon kill him? He thought that if perhaps he figured that out, then he might not be as terrified. Perhaps it would incinerate him in a blast of flame? Not very likely, he decided. He was aware that dragons often asked for young maidens . If there were just going to incinerate their victims, then why would they care about age, or gender, or...

Arthur froze. What had the Inquisitor said about Sin and Lust? Surely the dragon didn't ask for maidens because... He blushed. Well, he thought to himself, I'm not a woman, so I probably have nothing to worry about in that respect...

But, then again, Francis WAS always trying to get Arthur into his bed. Not that Francis and a dragon were on the same level, though, he wasn't so sure of that anymore. And, despite Francis' best attempts, (and Arthur's attempts as well, to woo the village maidens) he _was_ a virgin.

He gulped, rater audibly, and began to seriously worry about his future. He could handle being eaten, or burned in a blast of flame. But to become a dragon's plaything...

No. This was ridiculous! No dragon, no matter HOW desperate, would ever view Arthur as anything as more than a meal. Yes, he was sure of it. The dragon would most assuredly eat him. He could only hope that it would be quick.

I would be fast, he assured himself. He'd seen the claw marks on the stone, and the trees that it had leveled. This dragon must have been huge. Monstrous! Arthur probably wouldn't even make a decent appetizer for it.

In the distance, a wolf howled.

Arthur began to panic. A dragon was bad enough, but now wolves? Wolves would most certainly NOT eat him quickly. He struggled against his bindings and found that were not as taught as he has assumed them to be. He tried to remember who had tied him to the post. Ah, it was Feliciano. A good lad, but rather useless.

Arthur gave the ropes a few good tugs before they fell away from his frame. Now freed from the pole, he worked on getting his hands loose. To his surprise, he found that the ropes binding his hands were also rather loose. He thought back to the apologetic looks that the two Inquisitor's subordinates had given him when they tied him up. Bless them. They had left the ropes loose on purpose. Arthur freed his hands, and then promptly removed the gag from his mouth.

He did it! He was free! Arthur's glee lasted only momentarily before he realized that, while he may have have escaped, he had nowhere to run. He couldn't go back to Hetalia. They'd just bring him right back here and tie him up again. Or worse, make sure to finish the job. He knew he couldn't go to any of the nearby villages. True, he did have a trade, but, as this incident showed him, it was not a very popular one. How long would he be in the next village before the same thing happened? Or someone from Hetalia passed though that village and outed him?

As the hopelessness of the situation overcame him, he sank down to the muddy ground and curled his knees to his chest. He was suddenly overcome with the urge to cry again.

And that's when the dragon came.

Arthur's first inclination was to run for cover, hope that the dragon hadn't seen him. It was difficult to tell how high the creature was, but from where he sat, he could see that it was indeed rather large. It's powerful limbs were tucked underneath it, much like a bird does when in flight. It's wings stretched out into the open and now clear night sky. He could feel the beat of the wings, displacing air as they flapped harder, propelling the beast through the air. Arthur noticed that it had a mane, which was a detail that he couldn't ever remember hearing about.

Then he realized that the dragon, in fact, _hadn't_ seen him. If he just stayed still a few moments longer, then he was free. But he was soaked through to the bone with cold, and hadn't eaten anything in over a day, and he had _absolutely nowhere_ to go. And then he remembered the wolves.

As he saw it, he had two choices. Die quick, or die slow.

He chose quick.

He stood, and flung a rock in the dragon's direction. "You ruddy dragon!" he screamed. "Come and get me!!!"

His cramped muscles (which weren't much to speak of even when he was well fed and not freezing to the bone after being tied to a pole for hours) didn't get the rock even remotely close to the dragon. But his shout, or his movements, or _something_ must have attracted the dragon's attention, because it curved it's wings and swooped down toward Arthur.

_Maybe not the wisest of decisions._ He thought. He closed his eyes and braced himself for the dragon's jaws. He felt it's wings flap as it circled overhead, perhaps suspecting a trap. Then it landed before him, and Arthur braced himself.... braced....

He stood there, stiff as a board, expecting to be encased in flames, or viciously torn apart by powerful jaws. Carefully, he opened his eyes, just a crack.

What he saw when he opened them was the dragon's kneecap.

Arthur was flabbergasted. He had expected the dragon to be big, but this was... He tipped his head, back... back...... back...........

The dragon leered down at him from an impossible height.

"Well, get on with it." He said "Go ahead, kill me."

But the dragon merely cocked it's head to the side. Arthur was surprised by the fact that it did not smell of sulfur, something that he'd always heard about dragons. No, this dragon smelled like... a wide open meadow on a spring day, covered in new grass and young flowers.

Arthur thought back to earlier. He recalled the faces of his neighbors as they tied him to a stake, offering him up to this very same dragon. The misery and despair that he now had to suffer through. The fact that he would probably soon be nothing more than a spot of indigestion for this dragon.

He kicked the dragon's foot. The impact made his toes sting.

The dragon looked at him again, as if it was considering... something.

So this wasn't going to be quick after all. The dragon was going to play with him. He should have chosen the wolves when he had the chance. He covered his face with his hands and sank to the ground. He had so wanted to be brave, even if he was the only one who'd know it, and there he was sobbing and laughing at the same time, about to die with his ass in the mud.

Above him, he heard the dragon shifting. _This is it!_ he thought frantically. He jumped as something brushed his hand. _I'm sorry!_ he apologized to no one. He apologized for all the times that he hadn't been nice to the other children in the village, all the times he'd tried to slip Francis herbs to make him lose all of his precious hair. (Well, maybe he wasn't as sorry for that one...) All the times he... he... just what was taking this stupid dragon so long?

Just as he was working up the courage to open up his eyes, he realized that there were hands tugging at _his_ hands, trying to uncover his face.

Hands. Not claws.

Arthur gasped, opening his eyes and dropping his hands at the same time.

A young man, looking perhaps a year or two older than him, crouched before him. His hands still on Arthur's hands.

There was no sign of the dragon.

Briefly, Arthur wondered if perhaps there had been some dragon slaying prince who'd... but there'd been no time for that.

He looked at the young man once again, and wondered how he could have ever mistaken him for human.

The thing that was most obviously wrong were the eyes. The color was that of the sapphires that adjourned the crucifix worn by the Inquisitor. "_It's a small dragon._" he recalled him saying. No wonder. If this human manifestation was any indication, this dragon wasn't fully adult yet. It gave Arthur a twisted sort of satisfaction to think of the all the trouble that this dragon would give the people of Hetalia when it was full grown, even if he wouldn't be around to see it.

By the light of the torches he saw that his hair was same color that his mane had been, a striking gold, and was more or less the same length as Arthur's own hair. Arthur jerked his gaze back up to his face, because he suddenly -finally- realized that the dragon-man wasn't wearing any clothes.

For the first time, those blue eyes flickered with emotion. Amusement. He'd seen Arthur's discomfort, and recognized the cause.

"I didn't know," Arthur said to say something. "That dragons could take human shape." He tried to pry his hands away from the dragon's. It's hands felt so remarkably human. The texture, the warmth, everything was as it should be, but...

"Only golden dragons posses magic." he said in a voice that was soft and husky and all too human.

"Oh." was all Arthur could come up with in reply.

The dragon refused to release Arthur's hands until he looked at him again. He smiled, the expression not quite reaching his eyes. "It's not often," he began, "that I find damsels flinging rocks at me."

Da- damsel?!? Arthur may not have been the masculine of men, but he was certainly no damsel! Finally, all of Arthur's fears, and pain, and frustrations boiled up to the surface, and he finally, after the most trying day of his life, exploded. He stood, and shouted at the dragon with every ounce of force he could muster from his tired, exhausted frame.

"You stupid bloody dragon! How dare you call me a damsel! I'm no weeping sodding maiden in distress! I'm Arthur of Hetalia, and I'll not kowtow to you or anyone else for that matter! Now stop mucking about and just EAT ME ALREADY!!!"

There. He'd done it. He gave that dragon a piece of his mind. And now, he braced for the final blow that he was certain to come. He waited, and waited... and waited.....

Then he heard the dragon make a noise. _Finally. I can be done with this whole mess._ He assured himself. He found that instead of feeling terror or dread, he felt... relieved. He'd just wish that the dragon would hurry up and finish him off so that he could get on with his happy afterlife.

The noise that the dragon-man was making grew ever louder. And then Arthur finally recognized what it was. Laughter. He opened his eyes and sure enough, there was the dragon, his hands covering his mouth in an attempt to stifle his growing guffawing.

"You... you... don't you mock me! You... DRAGON!" Arthur shouted again, waving his finger toward the dragon's shaking frame. It was then that the dragon lost it, and didn't even try to stifle his laughter. He laughed loudly, throwing his head back, clutching his stomach. _The nerve of him!_

"I'm sorry." the dragon apologized, after his laughter had subsided a bit. He looked at Arthur through his tear-streaked eyes. "I didn't mean to laugh so hard, I just-" his statement was cut off by another fit of laughter. Arthur huffed, and crossed his arms over his chest.

"Really." he berated "You certainly don't act like a proper dragon!"

"And you certainly don't act like a 'proper' victim." the dragon retorted.

_Touché._

"So," the dragon began, now sufficiently calm from his giggle fit. "Just what is a 'proper dragon' supposed to act like?" he queried.

Arthur stuttered, his rage subsiding. "Well," he began, "You're supposed to..." he trailed off. He was severely distracted by the dragon's lack of clothing. And apparent lack of modesty. He blushed heavily, turning his head away. The dragon's nakedness suddenly reminded him of Inquisitor Ivan's words. "Why-" he began to ask, his voice just above a whisper.

"Why?" the dragon mimicked him, his head turning to the side, much in the same way that it had when he was still in dragon form.

"Why... do dragons ask for maidens?" he stammered out. He could feel his face heat up, despite the cold in the air.

The dragon shook his head in response, chuckling softly. "Dragons don't ask for maidens." he clarified, "We're offered maidens."

Arthur stared at him dumbfounded. The dragon must have taken his silence as a sign that he did not understand, for he elaborated. "Is a king likely to be a maiden? Or a village chief? It's the men who make the laws, and therefore decree that maidens should be offered."

"Oh." was Arthur's only response. "I see." he supposed that it made sense, in a twisted sort of way. If this dragon had told him that statement before yesterday, he probably wouldn't have believed him. But the events of the past 24 hours had left him with a rater cynical view of the world.

"But you are not a maiden, so what are you doing out here, tied to a stake?" the dragon queried, stepping closer to Arthur and scrutinizing him with his too-blue eyes.

"I-" Arthur began, "That is, I..." he weighed his options. To continue talking to this dragon would mean a few more minutes of life, at least, before he was gobbled up. Heck, there was even a chance that this dragon may let him go, if he proved to be interesting enough. But he was again reminded that he had nowhere to go. He decided that it really did not matter what he said to this dragon, his fate would be the same either way. So he decided to be honest.

"I... was accused of witchcraft." he confessed, "I've lost my home. I lost my parents years ago. I have nowhere to go, and no one to turn to. As I see it, my two options are to get eaten by you, or to get eaten by wolves. I thought that you might be quicker about it." he finished, feeling oddly relieved.

The dragon stared at him with an unreadable expression. "_Are_ you a witch?" it asked.

"Of course not!" Arthur bellowed. Really, for a dragon, he wasn't too bright...

"Oh, that's good then." the dragon answered.

"If you don't mind, I'm rather tired and hungry. I know I won't make much of a meal, but I'd really appreciate it if you'd just get on with eating me." he said, trying no to sound as pathetic as he felt.

"Do you really want me to eat you?" the dragon asked earnestly.

Arthur stared at him with tired green eyes, a small smile playing over his lips. "Why not?"

The dragon looked at him with an expression that almost seemed to be... disappointment? No that couldn't be. The dragon was probably just thinking about how horrible Arthur would taste.

Then the dragon moved, so quickly that Arthur had trouble following his movements. Before he knew it, he was once again staring up at the dragon's true form. It's great wings flapped ferociously, sounding like sails on the wind. Arthur put up his arms in front of him to protect himself from the sudden gale.

He felt the dragon's claws around his middle, and gave a startled cry as he was plucked from the muddy ground. He saw the earth below him get farther and farther way as he was carried higher and higher into the sky. He was certain that he was screaming, as he could feel the strain on his lungs, but he could not hear anything above the wind rushing by his ears.

Eventually, he lost consciousness.

* * *

Ok, so, I hope everyone liked the first part. More to come... soonish. I've got two other fics I'm writing at the moment. (Why do I do this to myself?) Thanks again for reading!

**********

I'd like to get your opinions before I begin writing the next bit. Should I make it action adventure? Or just skip straight to the smut? I have a vague-ish plot-line in my head, but I'm open to suggestions. Please comment your answers! Please? I'd really appreciate your opinions!

**********


	2. Chapter 2

Hooray!~ Part 2 is here! There's a bit of fanservie in this chapter, but nothing too explicit. I'm sorry for the long wait guys, and thank you for being patient. So now, without further ado, on to the fic!

* * *

When Arthur woke, his first thought was of how he could not remember ever being this comfortable. His sleep dredged mind wondered if perhaps he was, in fact, sleeping on a cloud. Perhaps that's where the dragon lived, high up on the clouds, where only it could reach, with it's powerful wings and bluer than blue eyes and....

Arthur sat bolt upright, and immediately regretted it. Every muscle in his poor abused body was aching. Briefly, he wondered why, but then the memories of the previous day came flooding back to him.

He'd been accused of witchcraft. A bogus charge laid on him by his greedy neighbor, who was simply after his land. He'd been found guilty of the charge by a man who, in Arthur's opinion, had no business being an Inquisitor. (The sadistic bastard that he was.) The people of his village had been duped, or threatened, or whatever. All that mattered was that they had beaten him, tied him up, and then staked him out on a hillside to be food for a hungry dragon.

Speaking of dragons...

Groggily, Arthur began to take stock of his surroundings. He was in a bed. A rather large and nice bed, with plush sheets and, _where those down feather pillows?_ Well, this was certainly much nicer than anything he'd ever slept in. At home, he had only a thin mattress stuffed with straw on a cot, and... damn, he needed to stop reminding himself of home.

Glancing around, he noticed that he appeared to be in... a cave? That made sense, he supposed. He heard that dragons tended to live in caves high in mountains. It was rather dark, with only a few sparse torches jutting light into the darkness. Arthur could not see much beyond the area where the bed was, but he thought that he saw something glittering in the depths of the cave.

Arthur then noticed something else that was peculiar. (He had no idea why it took him so long to notice it.) He was sitting in the bed stark naked. And apparently, he'd been wiped down while he was asleep, because none of the mud from the previous night (or was it still night?) was left on his skin. Well, it was certainly nice of whoever had cleaned him, but he'd really prefer a coating a mud to this... exposure.

He fidgeted around uncomfortably in the sheets. The idea of being naked was never something that he'd been comfortable with. (Francis always seemed to all too happy to find an excuse to get naked. Damn, why did he have to keep thinking all of these depressing things?) He was also not very comfortable with the idea of being naked with a SODDING GIGANTIC DRAGON AROUND!!!

That was another thing that was confusing him. Why hadn't the dragon just eaten him then and there? Perhaps he wanted Arthur in a less muddy state. (Like how he would wash the vegetables from his garden, his mind supplied him...) But if that was the case, then he could have just dropped him in a lake and then gobbled him up. Why go to all the bother of washing him up and putting him a big comfy bed? And why the hell was he _naked_? Did the dragon know nothing of clothes? He must have seen humans wearing them. Maybe he didn't know how to dress Arthur. Maybe he didn't have any clothes for Arthur to wear. Maybe...

"Oh, you're awake!" Arthur nearly jumped out of his skin at the statement. It had come out of nowhere, form very close to the bed. Eyes wide, he stared into the darkness, looking for a glimmer of gold.

"Show yourself, dragon!" he commanded, trying to sound as menacing as a shivering naked man in a strange bed could.

He head soft chuckling from the darkness, and saw the dragon step forward, reveling himself in the dim light of the torches. Arthur had expected him to be naked, as he was after he had transformed, but the dragon-man was wearing a simple cloth shirt and breeches. A modest outfit, but he still somehow made it look elegant. Arthur was suddenly reminded of his own nudity, and felt his cheeks get warmer.

"Well good morning to you too." the dragon-man said in an all too conceded manner. He strolled languidly over toward the bed, and Arthur was struck once again by just how... inhuman he was. His movements were too fluid, too smooth to be human. The way the dragon walked was in the same manner that a snake slithered over the ground, or the way a cat stealthily crept up on its prey. He moved with a kind of graceful ease that no human could ever posses, and it only served to unnerve Arthur further.

He pulled the covers up around himself in an attempt to hide his nudity. His eyes locked with those of the dragon-man's. Too blue staring into frightened green.

"May I sit?" the dragon asked.

"Why- why are you asking me?" Arthur stuttered out, "It's your cave, isn't it?"

The dragon smiled, bright and broad, and sat down on the edge of the bed. "Yes, but you are my guest, and you seem on edge. I don't want to frighten you."

On edge? ON EDGE? Of course he was bloody well _on edge_! He was sitting stark naked in a bed in a dragon's cave! Who wouldn't be on edge! He... wait. Did the dragon just say...

"Guest?" he asked aloud.

"Yes, you are my guest here, and I want you to be comfortable." the dragon stated matter-of-factly.

"I... wait. I'm confused." Arthur's head was reeling. The dragon had nothing to gain by being so nice to him.

The dragon cocked his head to the side, an action that Arthur was beginning to think was a particular quirk of the dragon's. "Confused? How so?"

"I... I thought you..." Arthur trailed off, not wanting to finish his sentence.

"You thought that I was going to eat you?" the dragon supplied.

"Yes." Arthur affirmed in a small voice, gave averted from the dragon sitting on the edge of the bed.

Silence reigned for a few moments, before Arthur looked up to see what the dragon was doing. The dragon was staring straight ahead of itself, toward the back of the cave, with a contemplative look on it's face. "I... couldn't." it spoke with no preamble, "You were, just too _interesting_." he finished and turned to gaze at Arthur. Then, with all of the grace and fluidity that had unnerved Arthur earlier, he moved effortlessly, so that Arthur found himself flat on his back, staring up into the face to the dragon, his arms pinned at his sides with an impossible strength.

"Why didn't you run? You had plenty of time to get away. I would have let you go." he implored Arthur.

Terrified as Arthur was, he still somehow found his voice. "I... you didn't see me till I threw the rock..."

The dragon chuckled at that. "I saw you out there. My eyesight is far better than yours. I saw you then as clearly as I do now."

"Then, why didn't you attack straight away?"

"I wasn't interested in you until you started acting out of the ordinary."

"People staked out on hillsides is ordinary?"

"It is for me."

Oh. That made sense, Arthur supposed. He struggled under the dragon's hold, but its strength was ridiculous. Obviously it had lost none of its power from its true form. He looked up at the dragon, and realized that it was waiting for his response.

"I... had no where to go. It... _you_ seemed like the best option at the time..." he turned away from the dragon's scrutinizing gaze. Their current positions were making Arthur _beyond_ uncomfortable.

"And now?" the dragon asked.

"What?"

"What about now? Do I still seem like the 'best option'?" Arthur looked back at the dragon, and was shocked to hind a pained looking expression on his face. Was the dragon feeing... pity for him?

"Well I... thought you were going to eat me. I thought that you'd just kill me and that's be that. I wasn't expecting... _this._" He attempted to gesture toward the bed, or even the cave in general, but it was rater difficult as his arms were still pinned at his sides.

"So you wanted the coward's way out?" the dragon asked, anger on the edge of his voice.

"Wha-" Arthur began to ask, but was cut off by the dragon's shouted clarification.

"Death! You wanted to take the coward's way out and die!" the dragon shouted at him, which was rather unnecessary, as their faces were now mere inches from each other.

Arthur was sick of this treatment. In the past two days he'd had nearly every possible horrible thing happen to him, and he was rather fed up with this dragon's strange behavior. So he let the dragon have a piece of his mind. "Yes! I wanted the coward's way out! I wanted everything to be over! I just..." his voice broke, and he felt the tears burn at his eyes, "I just want everything back the way it was." he sobbed.

Arthur was ashamed of his tears. He hated himself for crying in front of this dragon. He hated the dragon who refused to eat him. He hated the people who had tried to feed him to the dragon. He was full of so much hatred... and it scared him. He just wanted it to all be over, so he didn't have to feel the pain anymore.

The dragon continued to hold down Arthur's arms through his sobbing, but suddenly Arthur felt him shift. He moved his hands from their place on Arthur's arms, and gently wrapped them around his back, pulling Arthur to his chest, and sitting upright, bringing Arthur to sit in his lap. Arthur was momentarily stunned at this intimate, comforting gesture.

"I'm sorry." the dragon whispered in his ear. "I'm so sorry."

Arthur was too stunned to remember to cry. Was he really being comforted by this... dragon? God, how pitiful was he, to be comforted by this creature?

"I..." the dragon began, "I can't put things back the way that they were, but... I can help you." Arthur's breath hitched in his throat. Help? How was this dragon going to help him? He could feel the dragon's hands skimming along his back, in a motion that was probably meant to be comforting, but, in this position, only added to Arthur's embarrassment. He fisted his hands into the dragon's shirt, and waited for him to continue.

"What they did to you was... wrong. You deserve better." the dragon pulled back, just a little, so that he could look Arthur in the eyes. Arthur could see that, while we wasn't crying, he was obviously upset. His eyes looked moist, and in them Arthur saw a startling determination. "I... I'll help you. You deserve justice. Don't worry Arthur. I'll... I'll be your hero." he finished, and shot Arthur an award wining smile.

Arthur stared at him blankly.

"Come again?"

"I'll be your hero, I said!" the dragon was grinning from ear to ear, in a manner that was completely contrary to his previous behavior.

"Are you thick or something?" Arthur half-shouted, his earlier anger bubbling up again. "You're a _DRAGON_! A fire breathing, village destroying, damsel eating dragon! You can't be the hero! You're supposed to _eat_ the hero!"

The dragon looked rather put off by this. "Maybe to you! But in dragon lore, _humans_ are the ones to be feared. How many innocent dragons do you think your knights have killed just for the spot of it? Young hatchlings not even a decade old! Not all dragons are bad, just as not all humans are good. _You_ above all people should know that." the dragon finished, and huffed a rather hot breath of air out of his nostrils.

Arthur stared at the dragon, all anger forgotten. He'd... honestly never thought of it that way. To him, dragons had only ever been something to hate and fear. Knights were champions of justice who could do no wrong. But here was a dragon taking pity on him, offering to help him after all the humans that he'd ever known had abandoned him. It made Arthur begin to sob all over again.

"Damn it, I'm sorry. I just can't seem to stop crying..."

The dragon's look softened. "That's alright. Cry if you need to. I won't hold it against you." he said as he drew Arthur closer to himself. In any other situation, Arthur would have felt nothing but comfort from such an action. As it was, though, he was pushed flush against the dragon's chest while sitting in his lap wearing _absolutely nothing_. He was feeling very uncomfortable, but the dragon didn't seem to notice, or chalked it up to Arthur's emotional state.

"I, uh..." Arthur began once he had calmed down, "I'm... sorry, for being so hostile towards you. You were just trying to help." The dragon nodded. "I hate to... inconvenience you any more than I already have, but.... do you happen to have any clothes that will fit me? I'm rather... uncomfortable... as I am now."

"Uncomfortable? How so?" the dragon asked, eyes filled with innocence and head cocked to the side.

_Honestly, how thick was this dragon?_ "It's not... appropriate... to be naked." he explained, "Humans find it... distressing. So if I could borrow some clothes..."

"Distressing? Whatever for? It's not like you have anything I haven't seen."

Arthur flushed. Even if it was true, Arthur was still uncomfortable in the arms of this powerful dragon enough as it was, without the added shame of nudity. "Please, I'm getting rather cold..."

"Oh, well, why didn't you say so?" the dragon laughed. He scooped Arthur up (much to his protest) and placed him gently back on the bed. Then he hopped up and ran off deeper into the cave. Arthur heard the sounds of things being moved, and the dragon muttering under his breath.

"Don't you need more light?" Arthur called to him. He pulled the covers about him one more, glad to have them to protect his modesty.

"I told you, my eyes are way better than yours." came the reply from the darkness, followed shortly by, "Found them!" before the dragon reappeared into the light with a bundle of cloth. He handed the clothes over to Arthur who took them gratefully. The clothes that the dragon had brought him were much the same as the ones dragon was wearing. Simple, but clean and (surprisingly) warm.

"So," Arthur began, tugging the shirt over his head, "How do you propose that we 'seek justice' then?"

The dragon put his hand to his lips in a contemplative manner. "Hmm, well, I really hadn't thought that far ahead." _Of course you didn't..._ "I guess the best thing to do is to find those that had wronged you and make _them_ see how it feels to lose everything." the dragon looked at him expectantly.

"That... just sounds like revenge to me."

The dragon shot Arthur a distressed look. "No, it's completely different! What they did to you had no reason! We have a good reason! We're gonna get back at them for what they did to you!" That... was the exact definition of revenge. Arthur was beginning to suspect that this dragon had a very flimsy grasp of the human language... Or was simply an idiot.

"Well, that's all well and good, uh... dragon.., but how are we to go about it?"

"Why do you keep calling me 'dragon'?" he asked, "Oh! I never introduced myself, did I?"

"No, you didn't." Arthur snorted.

The dragon smiled a coy sort of smile at him. "I'm Alfred." he introduced himself with a sarcastic bow.

_Alfred. What a common name for such an uncommon dragon._

"Pleased to meet you Alfred. Now, will you please turn around so I can put these pants on?" Well there's a sentence Arthur never expected to utter. But, then again, he never expected to be talking with a dragon.

The dragon, Alfred, snorted as if he found Arthur's reply amusing, but complied, turning around to face away from Arthur. Arthur quickly jumped out of the bed and pulled the pants up, fastening them. He didn't want the dragon to get all touchy-feely with his naked form again, thank you.

Once he was appropriately dressed, Arthur sat on the bed once more. "So," he began, "How do you propose we go about seeking my revenge?"

"Justice!" Alfred corrected him.

"Oh, fine then, how do we go about seeking my 'justice'?" he said in a mocking tone.

"Uh…" Alfred said, a lost look on his face, "Well, I guess I could just fly over the village and burn it down…" Alfred suggested.

Arthur knew that the look on his face was one of absolute horror because Alfred quickly followed with "UH! Just kidding! Just kidding… heh."

Honestly, this dragon wasn't good for his health. Sure, Arthur was starting to think that this 'justice', or 'revenge', or whatever might be a good idea, (He especially liked the thought of Francis suffering…) but to burn down his village… the home that he had grown up in... that was taking things to far.

Arthur sighed. This was going to be more difficult than he thought. "Well," he began, the threads of a plan beginning to form in his mind, "First I want to get back at that Inquisitor. He was far too sadistic, took too much pleasure in condemning me. I don't want him to do that to anyone else." He stated adamantly, and Alfred nodded in reply. "Then I want to go after Francis, Antonio, and Gilbert. They were the ones who placed this ridiculous charge on me in the first place. Those greedy bastards have it coming to them!" Arthur could feel the rage swell in his veins, and was a bit afraid at how much he enjoyed the thought of another human being's suffering. He had been an apothecary, he was supposed to heal other's suffering, not cause it.

Arthur pushed such thoughts out of his head as Alfred grabbed his hand in his own. When had he gotten so close?

"That sounds like a good idea to me." He told Arthur with a small smile. "Now, how shall we punish them? I could use my magic to scare them or…"

Arthur shook his head. "No, I want them to feel exactly how I felt. I want them to know what it's like to be accused of something that you're innocent of, and not have anyone to come to your aid. I want them to wallow in despair and lose all hope." He said, malice dripping from every syllable. He was disgusted not at just those he was now plotting revenge against, but also with himself, for letting his hatred control him like this.

"So…" Alfred began, "We should frame them for a crime? Like witchcraft? Or…"

Really, this revenge was Alfred's idea, and yet he seemed utterly hopeless at it. It was obvious that Arthur would have to do all of the thinking around here.

His mind began to kick into overdrive, and after a minute of plotting, he came up with a way to get his revenge.

"The Inquisitor, Ivan, said he was from Kiev. Can you fly us there?"

"Sure," Alfred replied. "No problem. It'll only take about an hour or so." An hour? It took three days to get to Kiev by horse, and that was if you galloped the whole way there! Was flying rally that much faster?

"Good. We'll need some money. I don't suppose that you have any…" Alfred snorted in reply. Arthur was a bit angered and confused by his reaction, but Alfred took his hand and pulled him deeper into the cave.

"Ah- wait! Where Are we going? I can't see a damn thing!" Arthur shouted into the darkness. It was incredible how dark it was. He literally couldn't see the hand in front of his face. But then there was a blast of flame as Alfred lit a torch to his left. So, he could still breathe fire in human form… good to know.

His eyes adjusted slowly to the darkness, but when they did, he was greeted by the sigt of a mound, no, a _mountain_ of gold and jewels. It was more riches than Arthur had even seen in his life. It was impossible to think that hiding in the back of his cave, Alfred had more gold than all the kings of the surrounding kingdoms _combined_.

He stood there, openmouthed, for the longest time. Eventually, Alfred spoke. "Well, do you think it'll be enough?" he said in a mocking tone.

He lowered his head, mind swimming in anticipation and reeling at the possibilities. When he looked at Alfred he had the widest and cruelest grin on his face that the dragon had ever seen.

"Yes," he said, "I think this will do nicely."

* * *

Yay! Part 2! FINALLY! I now, I know, I'm sorry it took so long. I really angsted over what direction to take this story. Adventure? Smut? Should I follow the plot or not? Well, I finally made a decision. Thanks to all of you for being so patient. *bows* I'll try to have the nest part up in another week of two, so look forward to that as well! I'd also like to thank all of my reviewers. You guys rock!


End file.
